Product Management and Business Strategy, focused on the tech industry

Does Apple’s secrecy help overcome the Innovator’s Dilemma?

Tonight I saw Adam Lashinksky speak about his book Inside Apple: How America’s Most Admired–and Secretive–Company Really Works. As he was describing how Apple would erect walls inside its offices to keep projects secret , I realized this extreme level of secrecy solves a core part of the The Innovator’s Dilemma. It becomes impossible for one part of the company to impede the disruptive innovations of another when the first part has no idea what the second part is doing. Other pieces of what Lashinksky described about how Apple operate,s including having being functionally organized rather than having multiple business units, helps keep Apple innovating rather than getting mired in protecting its current businesses. But I’m wondering if the secrecy that was designed to keep information from getting outside the company also prevents Apple from getting it in own way.